A Good Old-Fashioned Blanket Scenario
by mercy-angel-09
Summary: A cold night. A warm blanket. Two people talking and sharing the warmth. Exactly What It Says On The Tin.


**Characters:** Miaka, Tasuki  
**Rating:** Teen  
**Words:** 3863  
**Genre:** Friendship, Romance-ish  
**Warnings:** None  
**Spoilers:** Assumed general knowledge of the show/manga.  
**Summary:** Miaka can't sleep, so she decides to talk to the one person in camp who's still awake.  
**Author's Note:** I recently binged on the whole series, and while I've never felt a compulsive need to write fic for the show/manga before, I was absolutely flooded with plot bunnies by the time I was finished. And while I do like Miaka/Tamahome, I adore the possibilities of Miaka/Tasuki. And then I got a hankering for a good, old-fashioned blanket scenario fic. So this happened. At any rate, this fic is technically canon compliant, but if the shipping goggles are on tight enough it's definitely got some Miaka/Tasuki undertones. But specifically written keeping in mind that Tasuki, at this point in the story, has no idea that he could even be in love with Miaka. What can I say, he's a bit of an idiot about his own feelings.  
**Disclaimer:** Fushigi Yûgi belongs to Yu Watase, Shogakukan Comics, Studio Pierrot, Viz Media, and Media Blasters.

* * *

Miaka stretched, then shifted, and then let out a small grunt. She shifted again but to no avail. Sleeping on a pallet of blankets and hides was nothing like the plush beds in the palace.

And it really didn't help that her brain refused to slow down for a second.

Sitting up, she looked around the tent and noted that her five companions were sleeping without issue. Chiriko was curled up next to Mitsukake, who was lying on his back, Tama stretched out along his side. Chichiri was sleeping near the entrance to the tent, his staff within reach should he need it. Nuriko and Tamahome slept side by side, with enough space for another bedroll between them. It was where Tasuki would sleep when he was relieved of his watch in a few more hours.

It was impossible to get comfortable and get her mind to settle, so Miaka quietly slipped on the coat the Tou tribe had given her and snuck out of the tent. Maybe talking to Tasuki would help her fall asleep.

The bandit sat a few yards from the tent, a small fire burning to keep him warm along with the blanket draped over his lap. His harisen was close to his leg, within easy reach should he need it. He was leaning against the trunk of a tree, casual elegance disguising his ability to leap into action if necessary. If she didn't know any better, she would have said that he was asleep on the job, but the way that his head was cocked left him aware of his surroundings.

"Shouldn't you be droolin' on yer pillow right about now?" he drawled as she approached, not bothering to move.

"I can't sleep," Miaka admitted as she sat down next to him.

His amber eyes slid to assess his priestess before he shrugged. "Find that a little hard to believe."

"Do you ever have one of those days where your mind just won't shut up? You lie down to sleep, but you keep thinking about everything that's going on?"

Tasuki snorted. "Yeah, I've had a few nights like that."

"Well that's me tonight," Miaka sighed as she pulled her knees up against her chest. She shivered and cursed the fact that she hadn't thought to bring pants. Konan was so warm that cold weather clothing hadn't been necessary, so the sudden trip to Hokkan meant her wardrobe was woefully inadequate.

"C'mere," Tasuki said, lifting up the edge of the blanket. "If you catch a cold Tamahome's gonna kill me."

Grateful, Miaka scooted over and slid under the blanket. It was a little warmer, but she shivered again. Rolling his eyes, Tasuki scooted next to her and pulled her against his side. "We'll be warmer this way," he explained when she gave him a questioning look.

"You have a lot of experience with the cold?" she asked.

"The mountains can get cold at night, yeah," he answered as he reached over and tweaked her nose.

"Hey!" She covered her nose and glared at him. He grinned back, his pronounced canines glinting in the low firelight. Struck by his wolfish appearance, she let herself stare at him, at least until he noticed and raised his eyebrows at her.

"Whaddaya lookin' at?"

"Sorry, it's just…with your eye color and the, uh, fangs…you look a bit like a wolf," she mumbled, looking away. Pink stained her cheeks.

To his credit, Tasuki wasn't offended by the comparison. "Yeah, I've heard that before," he said with a chuckle. "It's why the old boss called me Genrou. Means 'phantom wolf'."

"Because you look like a wolf?"

"And I'm fast."

"Got it."

Silence fell between them, the only sounds being animals moving through the nearby woods and the soft popping and hissing from the fire. When Miaka shivered violently, Tasuki sighed and repositioned himself.

"What are you do-oooop!" she said as he hauled her into his lap.

"Maybe you'll stop shiverin' now," he said as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Oh," she said, realizing that his body heat was now warming her up. She snuggled closer to him, relishing the fact that she didn't have to worry about wandering hands or the fear that emotions might take her beyond the point of no return. She was safe with Tasuki. She would always be safe with Tasuki.

"So, what's on yer mind that ya can't sleep?" he asked.

"Oh, um, I was just thinking about Yui." Miaka sighed as she leaned her forehead into the crook of his neck. "I seem to be doing that a lot lately."

"Yui…that's the Priestess of Seiryuu, right?" he asked, recalling the petite blonde. The ice in her eyes still made him shudder.

"Yes," Miaka said as she shifted in his lap so she could loop her arms around his shoulders. "I hate that we're enemies. I hate that we're fighting. I just want to go back to the way it used to be!"

"Yeah, but if you did that, you wouldn't have met us, right?" Tasuki asked. "Yer not regrettin' that, are ya?"

"What? No!"

"Well, all right then," he said as he settled himself against the tree and repositioned the blanket so they were wrapped snuggly within it. "I'd hate to think I left Mt. Reikaku fer nothin'."

"You're mean," she muttered.

"Mmhmm, meanest bandit on Mt. Reikaku," he said with a wolfish grin.

She shook her head at his antics. "Anyway, I can't seem to get my mind to shut down for the night. Every time I close my eyes I think about Yui."

"So rather than lying awake thinking about her, you came out t' talk to me. I'm flattered," he teased.

"It's better than tossing and turning all night and possibly waking the others. Nuriko's terrifying when he hasn't gotten enough sleep," she said with a shudder.

Tasuki laughed. "Yeah, I can imagine." He looked down at Miaka, who had gone back to staring blankly at the fire. "Miaka, what's wrong?"

"I feel so awful," she said, snuggling closer to Tasuki's warmth. "I left, you know. I went back to my world." She blinked, trying to make the tell-tale stinging in her eyes go away. "But there was a price for me leaving. She was pulled into this world in my place. She…she landed in Kutou, and she was…she was…she was raped. I couldn't help her. I didn't know. She blames me for it." She sniffled as she swiped the tears from her face.

"Aww, Miaka, don't cry," he crooned, reaching up to wipe at the tears as well. "It ain't yer fault that happened. You said that there was nothin' ya coulda done and I believe ya. If you coulda helped, you woulda. That's the kind of person ya are."

"Thanks Tasuki," she said, burying her face in his neck.

"Er, yeah, not a problem," he said, noting that it felt oddly normal for her to curl into him like that. "At any rate, it's much more fun to be with a girl who's willin' than one that's not."

Miaka tried to process the last part of that comment, but decided to not question it quite yet. Odd that Tasuki, someone who frequently commented on their dislike of women at top volume, would have an opinion on such a thing. Perhaps a change of topic was necessary. "So, Tasuki, I don't know much about you."

"I think it's safe to assume that ya really don't know much about any us 'cept Tama and maybe His Majesty," he drawled.

Cheeks pink, Miaka glanced at the fire. "Well, yes, but I should change that. I'll work on getting to know the other's tomorrow. Right now I want to know about you. How did you become a bandit? Do you have any family? Have you ever had a girlfriend? You know, things like that."

He gave her an odd look, and bit back the typical retort about women being nosy. He supposed that as the Priestess she had a right to know about the people protecting her. Still, he'd tease her a little. She'd probably be worried if he gave her a straight answer. "It's a long story, yes, and no."

"Tasuki," she whined.

He laughed and she smacked his shoulder in response. "I have a family. Five older sisters, each more forceful than the one that came before. My sister Aidou is a regular battle ax 'cause of that. Ma runs the house and leaves no room for arguin'."

"And your father?"

"It's easy to forget he's there," Tasuki said with a snort.

"Oh."

"Nuthin' against him, but he definitely doesn't run the household. I left when I was fifteen. I was tired of being run ragged by my sisters." He started to speak in a falsetto. "Shun'u, chop the firewood! Shun'u, slop the pigs! Shun'u, clean the chicken coop! Shun'u, plow the field!" He grunted as Miaka stifled a laugh. "Bah, good riddance. It's like they were delicate flowers unable to work."

"I'm assuming they were perfectly capable of working?"

"More than capable," he growled. "At any rate, I haven't been home in over a year and the only one still there is Aidou, since the oldest four have married and I assume are now terrorizin' their husbands instead o' me. I thought Kouji might have taken a shine t' Aidou the last time we stopped by but he was interested in someone else."

Miaka hummed, trying to picture the other bandit in love. For whatever reason she couldn't picture it.

"Ya know, the old boss didn't even want me when I first showed up," Tasuki said with a laugh. "I was too scrawny and he fig'red that I'd be more trouble than I was worth."

"What made him change his mind?"

"My speed, for one thing." He smiled at the memory. "Beat 'im to the stronghold takin' the wolf trails."

"So that's why he called you Genrou?"

He tapped her on the nose. "Bingo."

"Your old boss sounds like a great man," Miaka said, trying to picture the kind of man that would awe Tasuki.

"He was the greatest, and in the end he was right."

"Huh? About what?"

"About you."

"How could he have known about me?" Miaka asked, feeling a prickle of panic. The man had died before she even made it to Mt. Reikaku.

"He was the one that told me about this," he said, holding up his arm and rolling his sleeve back so she could see his mark. "My own parents didn't bother t' tell me. Dunno why they didn't, maybe they didn't know."

"Oh Tasuki," she said as she hugged him.

"When he told me that I couldn't stay at Mt. Reikaku forever I was mad. I couldn't see why I'd hafta leave on account of some girl."

"But you left anyway?"

Blushing, Tasuki looked up at the clear night sky. "Yeah…well…I talked it over with Kouji and he thought that I should go with ya." When he looked at her again, his expression was stern. "And ya certainly needed my help by th' time I caught up with ya."

"Well, whatever your reasons, I'm glad you're here now!" Miaka said, deciding to ignore his barb. She didn't need a reminder that she'd almost been zombie fodder.

"Yeah, well, me too," he said, trying – and failing miserably – to sound like he really didn't care.

"So you've never had a girlfriend."

"Pah! Too much trouble. No thanks," he said, causing Miaka to giggle.

"That's interesting, seeing as you made the earlier observation that it's more fun to be with a girl that's willing than one that's not."

"I've never had a girlfriend. Doesn't mean I've never been with a girl," he clarified, though why any of this was Miaka's business was beyond him. She was easy to talk to, that was probably why he'd started spilling his guts in the first place.

"But…"

"Ya can have sex and not be in love ya know," he said, giving her a look.

"I know that," she answered, flustered by his blunt response.

"I guess it makes sense that you'd be confused, considerin' how often I talk about hatin' women. I suppose what I should say that I don't wanna be tangled up with a woman for the rest of my life, but I certainly don't mind the occasional turn in the sheets."

"Ugh, you're so crass," Miaka muttered, causing him to laugh.

"If you think I'm gonna act all hoity-toity like His Majesty, ya got another thing comin'," he said. "I'm always gonna be me, Miaka, so ya might as well get used to it."

She really couldn't fault him there. Tasuki's bluntness was refreshing compared to the rest of the warriors who tended to tip toe around what they considered Miaka's delicate sensibilities. If someone was going to speak frankly to her, she'd just have to accept that it was Tasuki who was going to do so. "So you've…uh…"

He glanced down at her, noticing that she was blushing. "Yeah, I have. Got a problem with it?"

"No!" she answered, perhaps a little too quickly. "It's your life; you can do what you want. If you want to frequent a brothel, that's your business."

"When you put it like that it sounds like I spend all my free time there," he mumbled, and Miaka grimaced. "A man has needs, ya know. So every so often I'd hit up the pleasure district to take the edge off."

"I wasn't asking for details you know," Miaka said, mortified that she'd somehow brought this conversation on to herself.

Tasuki shrugged and then looked up at the sky.

"So…how old were you?"

"Huh?"

"The first time?"

"Nosy, aren't ya?" he smirked. "I wasn't much older than you."

She hummed, but said nothing, raising his curiosity.

"You and Tama aren't plannin' on…"

"What! Oh, no, we can't actually. The priestess must remain pure," Miaka explained, once again frustrated by the fact that she couldn't get to close to Tamahome without worrying about going too far.

"Well that sucks."

"Tell me about it."

Silence fell between them again, Miaka staring at the tent while Tasuki stared at the fire. She wasn't cold anymore, but it seemed as if her mind was busier than ever.

"What's it like?" she asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"What's what like?"

"Sex."

To his credit, Tasuki didn't laugh, but his eyebrows did shoot straight into his hairline. "Why do you wanna know?"

"Curiosity, mostly."

"Eh, it can be fun, I guess."

"You guess?!"

"I ain't exactly a connoisseur of bed sport," he replied dryly. "Listen, the girls I've been with were compensated for their time. It's how they make a livin'. Some of them enjoy it, to others it's just a job. It'll be diff'rent for you 'cause when you finally connect with someone like that, it'll be with someone you care about."

"Is that you something that you want? To share yourself intimately with someone that you love?"

"Ya gotta fall in love first, and that ain't something I'm aimin' to do," he answered.

Miaka tilted her face towards him to study him. It was a pity, because everything about Tasuki said that he'd be a fierce and passionate lover, protective of the one that finally captured his heart until he died. At the moment it seemed like that energy was directed at her, but Miaka assumed that it was because he was her warrior, destined to protect her. Anyone who tried to mess with her had to go through him first. He was like an older brother that way, though sometimes she felt that he was looking at her in a way that her real older brother would never dream of.

"But why not?"

"Some people just don't fall in love. I'm one of 'em."

"You seem so sure of that."

He laughed, shaking his head. "Okay, so maybe it is a matter of not meeting the right girl yet, but in my line of work the chances are slim to none. But I'm okay with that, so stop yer worryin'."

Miaka mumbled something about how people shouldn't give up on love, but wisely held her tongue from any further rumination on the subject. The last thing she wanted to do was further antagonize the red head. "You know, you really haven't answered my question," Miaka finally said.

"From what I've heard, and keep in mind a lot of this is just hearsay," he said, giving her a pointed look, "is that it can hurt for women."

"But you'd never…"

"'Course not!" he said, scowling. "I've gone to girls who just weren't feeling it. Rather than forcing myself on 'em I just paid for their time and left. I ain't an animal." He sighed and then shook his head. "It can be fun, though, if you and your partner know what yer doin' and how to make the other one happy. It's all about the give an' take. Me? I like makin' the girls feel good. I like knowin' that I made them feel somethin' incredible. Not all guys are like that, though. Some just care about gettin' their pleasure and leave the girl high and dry, but if ya ask me that's not very manly."

"You're a giant softie, aren't you?" she asked as she gave him a squeeze. Tasuki grunted but didn't respond. He hated it when people realized that he was sensitive under the tough bandit exterior. "Anyway, thank you for talking to me."

"You finally goin' to bed?"

She yawned and then nodded. "I don't know who is going to relieve you, but I doubt it would go over well for me to be sleeping on top of you when they do."

Tasuki snorted. "Yeah, I don't relish Tama tryin' to beat th' snot out of me tomorrow mornin'."

"Trying?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

"I can go toe to toe with him and you know it," he said, smirking in satisfaction. Hell, he could have beat Tamahome the first time they fought if Miaka hadn't asked him to hold back, he was sure of it.

To her credit she didn't laugh at him. Instead she smiled and leaned up to press her forehead against his. "I know," she said, though Tasuki got a sneaking suspicion that she was just saying it to placate him. "You'd do anything to keep me safe, and I really appreciate it."

Every nerve in Tasuki's body went on high alert. It wasn't as if he hadn't been aware of Miaka's presence before, but now he was hyper-aware of it. He could smell the soap she washed up with, and the minty scent of the stuff she used to clean her teeth. His heart skipped a beat but damn if he could figure out why it had done that. "Eh, just doin' what needs to be done," he grunted, hoping that the heat he felt in his face wasn't a blush.

"Still, I appreciate it," Miaka repeated as she pulled back. She looked him in the eyes, noting that he looked flustered. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just gotta make it through the next few hours is all," he answered. It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. He smiled at her. "You go get some sleep. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"All right, good night, Tasuki," Miaka said as she stood. She shivered in the cold air and darted back to the tent.

Pulling the blanket around him once more, Tasuki tried to slow his racing heart. It wasn't like he felt that way about Miaka, but that didn't change the fact that she was someone special to him. He could almost hear Hakurou laughing at him, and with an irritated snort settled back against the tree to resume his watch.

Back in the tent Miaka crawled back into her bedroll, noting that she could still feel Tasuki's warmth lingering on her skin. He was full of surprises, that was for sure. Every time she thought she had him figured out, he'd reveal something else about himself. There was no telling what she would know about him by the time their journey ended. With that thought, she finally drifted off to sleep.

It was the sounds of the warriors breaking camp that finally woke Miaka several hours later. With a small groan she sat up and looked around, trying to determine if anyone else was still asleep. All of the other bedrolls had been packed away and sat in a stack near the tent's entrance, except hers and Tasuki's. The bandit was still sprawled out, sleeping peacefully. It was entirely probable that the only reason why he wasn't being made to help out was because he'd taken the first watch. Still, if they wanted to get to Touran first, they needed to get moving sooner rather than later.

After wrapping one of the blankets around her to fend off the morning chill, Miaka walked over to where Tasuki was sleeping. "Hey, Tasuki," she said, keeping her voice low. The last thing she wanted to do was startle him and end up being singed for her trouble. "Tasuki, it's time to wake up."

"Dun wanna," he mumbled before rolling over onto his stomach.

"Tasuki," she cooed, gently shaking his shoulder. "Tasuki, if you don't get up Tamahome is going to eat your share of breakfast."

A small, snorting laugh came from the bandit, though muffled by his pillow. He lifted his head and gave her a sleepy grin. "Sure yer not talkin' 'bout yerself, Miaka? I doubt Tama will eat my breakfast. You, on the other hand…"

She shoved his head back into his pillow, which made him laugh harder. "Fine, see if I care."

"Aww, Mi-chan, don't be like that," he said as he sat up and stretched. His flame colored hair was messier than usual, and there was something adorable about his sleep rumpled state. He graced her with another sleepy smile. "All right, all right, I'm up. Did ya finally get some sleep?"

"Yeah, thanks," she said.

"Not a problem, but I don't think ya should make a habit of it," he said as he looked around for his coat. Locating it near the wall of the tent, he shrugged into the cold fabric and shivered. "So, whaddya say to gettin' some chow?"

"Sounds amazing," Miaka said as she jumped to her feet. "I hope Nuriko made something delicious."

"I'm sure he did," Tasuki replied as he stretched one last time and then got to his feet. "Last one out surrenders half their portion to the winner!"

"HEY, THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Miaka cried as she chased after him. Damn his speed. Still, she couldn't bring herself to be too mad at him. It was just part of who he was, and really, she wouldn't want him any other way. Especially after everything she had learned about him the night before. That secret part of him he had shared with her alone made her feel as if she'd been given a precious gift, and she would treasure it always.


End file.
